by: Mirjam Visser, 2010-04-23 04:45:20 UTCSustainability Aspects: Already designed in the end of the 60's it is a prime example of reducing material usage. In polyurethane foam and upholstered in stretch fabric, the chairs were vacuum packed, with a reduction in volume of 90% till the moment of unpacking

A series of armchairs and ottomans. Since it first appearance, in 1969, the UP series has been an outstanding expression of design. The UP5 is the most famous, a female figure tied to a ball-shaped otoman symbolizing the shackles that keep women subjugated, it fitted in the time of feminism and women getting out of home and into the workforce as well as emphasizing the feminity.

With the Up series, from one side Gaetano Pesce brought his own personal idea of the woman to light. “I was telling a personal story about my notion of women: despite themselves, women have always been prisoners of their own making. Along these lines, I liked the idea of giving this armchair a feminine shape with a ball and chain, the traditional image of the prisoner.”

On the other side was a company which, having a great deal of technological know-how for product development, brought Pesce’s idea to life and transformed it into a piece of modern art available to a broad range of people. Out of this, a series of seats arose, seven to be exact: timeless furnishings expressing a universal idea, created with the foremost advancements in development and technology.

Updated and reproduced by B&B Italia in 2000 with high performance materials, today these chairs are amongst the products that best represent the company’s long path towards innovation.